Taiwan Taipei Mission

Taiwan Taipei Mission

Monday, April 6, 2015

Hot and Sticky

Man, today has been a crazy day! It is a holiday here in Taiwan today
and so all the internet cafe's are filled with school students playing
that League of Legends game so currently, we are in this extremely loud
cafe, with cockroaches and the smell of cigarettes. But its all worth it
to hear about how you are all doing! The key board isn't very good so
sorry in advance for all my mistakes :)

Yes, I received the Easter
package, family history stuff, and picture! Thanks so much!! I can't
believe Alexis is pregnant! Tell her and her husband congratulations for
me! I am excited for them!!

This last week has
been the hottest week ever! The stickiness is never to go to go away. I
am always sweating. haha To top it off, the AC unit in our
apartment broke on Wednesday and we don't have a fan and we have to wait
to get permission to buy one so it's been some warm nights! haha

Here's a quick run down of my week:

Last
Monday: we went to Zhunan to spend some time with our zone leaders and
the missionaries there. Most the missionaries from our zone came. One of
our zone leaders, Elder Stewart has been called as the new assistant to
the president so he left Zhunan on Tuesday to start getting training
from the AP that is going home at the end of this transfer. After p-day
was over, Sister Fisher and I got on a bus to head up to Taipei because
we were supposed to go on a mini exchange with the temple sisters but
it ended up not happening because we didn't get there till 8:20.

Tuesday:
We had the 1 month trainee, trainer meeting in Taipei where all the
trainees and the trainers have a meeting and we discuss how our first
month on the island has been. This last month has gone by so fast! It is
crazy!! We got some really good training about stress, setting a vision
for ourselves, and to always be fully dedicating ourselves to the work of
the Lord. Overall, it was a really good meeting! Tuesday night after we
got back from Taipei, we went tracting and talked to a guy making those
flower bouquets in his garage. He was really nice and hopefully we will
be able to go back and talk to him sometime!

Wednesday:We had district meeting and met with Fan Zhu Song. He is progressing
really well. We had a good lesson with him about the Atonement of Christ
and the Book of Mormon. He is still a little confused of the concept of
the Atonement though. I always look forward to the lessons we have
with him! He is so prepared and so interested in learning more about the
gospel. Wednesday night we had English class. We got together a little
bit before because it is Elder Marks birthday today and a couple members
that help us with English class wanted to have pizza and cake with us
for his birthday. They also bought the behind of a chicken for us to all
try. So yes, I have now tried chicken butt...it tastes very
slimy. Overall, English class was really good. We discussed almost the
whole time about a, an, the and when it is appropriate to use each
word. I gave them homework so hopefully they will be able to complete
it.

Thursday: We had our weekly planning
session and it was super hot! haha. I hope I adjust to the heat quickly!
After WPS, we met with a couple less active members. We met with Xu
DiXiong. He is having a really rough time right now. Everything in his
life seems to be going downhill and he doesn't understand why. He tells
us he is following the commandments and then things go wrong. We talked
to him more about relying on the Lord and not only for asking for things
in prayers but also giving gratitude for the things that we are given
even in times of trial. Thursday night we also met with Huang Qi Wang
and she talked our ears off. I didn't understand most of her stories but
the main jest was about church and other churches she has been to. When
we were walking out, she turned to us and said, I think I am going to
come to church on Sunday! We were really excited but then she wasn't
there yesterday. So when we meet with her this week, we are going to have
to follow up and see why she didn't come.

Friday: We had a normal day of service of tearing up bikes and also breaking
apart window seals. We met with Wu Mei Yu and reviewed the Plan of
Salvation. She remembered most of it. She is looking forward to her
baptism and we hope that she will continue to progress. She needs to
gain a habit of coming to church though. She still is struggling with
that. We had MM meeting and then the Temple Sisters came to Toufen for
us to exchange with them. I took a bus with Sister Graham up to Taipei
and spent Saturday serving there.

Saturday:
Taipei is crazy! We had a really good morning of studies and I learned
a lot from Sister Graham. She is amazing! Her life as a temple sister is
absolutely crazy!! I can't believe how much they do! We were able to do
some service with a referral from another set of sister missionaries and
we were able to set a baptismal date with her! We also had a lesson
with a new investigator. Crazy story: Friday night Sister Graham and I
were trying to hard to find a member present for her lesson and no one
could help us. Saturday morning while I was in the shower, Sister Graham
pulled out some pages the relief society gave her of pictures and names
of all the sisters in the relief society and she said a prayer asking
Heavenly Father who He wanted to be the member present for this lesson.
She opened her eyes and had this filling to call Ye JieMei. She had
never met her before but when she called her she was so willing but
nervous because she had never been a member present before. It was
totally meant to be. We were able to meet with her and get to know her for
about 10 minutes before the lesson. We also told her how we picked her
to ask to come with us. We went and met with the new investigator, Wang
JM and then at the very end, Ye JieMei bore her testimony about the
gospel and she told the investigator how we asked her to be a member
present and then she started crying and talked about her sons and how
one of them is being really rebellious. The investigator talked to her
for a little bit. It kind of turned into a lesson for our member present
and our investigator was the member present instead, but it was really
cool and the spirit was totally there. When we were walking back to
where our bikes were parked, Sister Graham talked to Ye JieMei more and
asked her what we as missionaries could do to help her and Ye JieMei said,
"Do you think you could come to my house sometime and have a lesson with
my family?" Sis. Graham told her of course! It was so crazy! Heavenly Father truly knows who we are supposed to make contact with!! We
exchanged back Saturday night.

Sunday: We had
church testimony meeting was really good other than the fact I couldn't
really understand. There was a bike thing on Saturday where all the
youth biked a super long distance and so they all bore their testimonies
about it. Sunday we did a lot of tracting. We were able to talk to a few
people but most weren't interested. Sunday night, we went to a members
house. She is 102 years old but can still do most things on her own!!
She doesn't speak any Mandarin only Haukinese but she still comes to
church every week just to feel the spirit. Her daughter translates for
her from Mandarin to Haukinese. She is super neat! We talked a lot about
families. Tan JM, the daughter, went off and talked to us about the
importance of getting married when we get off our missions and having
lots of kids to make our parents happy...haha. It was really cute!

Today
is Elder Marks birthday so we went out to eat with the Scheese Family
and Jeffrey at this all you can eat hot pot place. It was really good
and I tried some new food---intestine and Shark Skin...the intestine
wasn't too bad but the shark skin was really slimy and a bit disgusting.
haha

Also, Brother Scheese also served in
Taiwan but was in the Taizhong mission. Dad, he was also born in 1971
and served his mission 1990-92. He said he was in the MTC September of
1990 and came on Island Nov 1990. He said he could have been in the MTC
with you and mom! His name is Thomas or Tom Scheese...could you have by
chance ran into him??

AND I lied last week...This month starts MANGO SEASON!!! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you all!! I hope you have a great week this week!!!

LOVE,

Sister Haacke

黃姐妹

Last Monday with the zone.

I LOVE the Taipei Temple.

Tuesday morning after playing Ultimate Frisbee at an elementary school.

Temple Sisters-Sister Su and Sister Graham and Sister Fisher and I at a
place we ate dinner at when we were exchanging back Saturday night.